No Buy and an Online Shopping Fail

Don't forget about the giveaway I'm having. It ends soon. You can also sign up to receive an Anti-Valentine handmade from me!
In an effort to turn my savings account into a big fat pig I'm instituting a No Buy period. I'm also not getting as many hours at work anymore since the holidays are over, so I really don't have any extra money to spending anyway.

The No Buy means I won't be purchasing a 30 day bus pass, though this really has more to do with not working as much (I only work 2 days this week). This means I'll have to plan my trips out of the house. I will have to run all my errands on one or two days instead of spreading them out over several days. I'll buy a day pass for the day and start my days early.

The No Buy means I will only be buying the basics like deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo and things of that nature. This also includes socks, bras and underwear. No new clothing. I have enough shirts and pants. Even when I lose this chub I have pants that I can still wear. NO NEW CLOTHES!!!

The No Buy means no more eating out when I'm having a craving to am too lazy to cook anything. I WILL allow myself to eat out once or twice a month though. Sometimes you just need to have lunch with a friend. Enjoy some sushi or bubble tea. 

Even though I won't be spending any of my hard earned money on extra things, that doesn't mean I can't shop at all. I will still be able to use rewards and gift cards that I've earned, but only if they cover most if not all of the purchase. Paying a dollar or two of a $15 purchase isn't too bad. A 30% off coupon...no shopping.

I will allow myself to buy business related items. I still need a few supplies for packaging, toner for my printer and some adhesive for Valentine's cards, but no new craft supplies (this means no more new fabric, this one hurts because there's a lot of new stuff out that I want). I will be using coupons when I can and finding the best deals.

I'm budgeting $5/month for lottery tickets. I don't even spend that much on lottery tickets over the course of 3 months. While these are really an entertainment expense, you never know what could happen. I could win $2000 and have my trip paid for just like that.

I will be buying things for the gift exchange and giveaway that I've already committed to, but I won't be joining anymore for the time being. If I do a sponsor a giveaway it'll be limited to ad space and shop credit. Things that come out of my pocket, but they don't.

In an effort to draw more income I'll be listing some of my craft supplies on eBay and CraigsList. (Sold a couple of stamp sets already and had an old jacket sell for WAY more than I expected to get for it). I'll also be sending out more items to the consignment shops that I already have items at. (I dropped the ball over the holidays with a couple of shops and I'm kinda kicking myself for that.) I also plan to have a couple more pretty big etsy sales in the next month or so in order to drive more business to my shop. I think I want to get it as full as I can with what supplies I have on hand before I have a big sale.

I think those are my general rules for this No Buy. I think nothing here is too hard that I can't do it. Now all I have to do is figure out the details of my trip and start gathering my paperwork to do my taxes so I can get those submitted. That should be a nice big chunk of money to put towards my trip. Wish me luck! I can't wait to watch my little ticker on the side to start sliding and my savings account to get full and fat.

not as awesome as I thought they'd be

And now my online shopping fail. So last week I guest posted on The Pretty Pinhead and mentioned these suede ankle boots that I HAD to have. (This was before I officially started the No Buy. I had to get one last thing in before I started.) At first I thought they were only available through one site, but I did a little bit of shopping around and found them on another site that had FREE shipping, they shipped the next day AND I could get a rebate if I went through ebates.com. SOLD.

I eagerly waited for them to come and couldn't wait to put them on. When they finally arrived I was pretty excited...then I put them on...and didn't like them at all. I even put them back in the box, took a nap and then tried them on again. Nope...still didn't like them. I was so disappointed. They looked long and pointy, like elf shoes and they weren't nice on. But I did need a pair of casual shoes though (I threw out my TOMS after I could no longer use duct tape to fix the hole in them), so I thought about the moccasins I'd tried on previously to make sure I ordered the right size for the boots. I like the moccasins and I knew how they fit.

I did some research and some calculating and decided I'd return the boots and get the moccasins. The moccasins were a few dollars cheaper and I could get them right away because they had them at Nordstrom and low and behold I had a $10 gift card. Woo! I went ahead and bought the moccasins and I love them. They're perfect and I was able to spend less of my money (more for California). Nice and comfy and I can wear them with dresses or shorts or pants. I'm even wearing them as I write this post.
  That's the bummer about online shopping. You fall in love with something and you have to have it and you get it and then...fail. This usually happens with things like clothing and shoes. Thankfully it worked out in the end for me. I saved some money and got some shoes that I love. No more online shopping for awhile though. Hopefully I get the money I need saved up sooner rather than later.   reading - Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone This post brought to you in part by: